Tragic accident.............

Hey, man. In times like this a six-pack sure does help.

 

Worst accident I recall covering was one involving a bat-shit senile woman. Although just a few people knew her name, she was highly recognizable because she would walk up and down the main road connecting the county's two biggest cities. She had a penchant for often wandering into the middle of a lane, forcing cars to swerve out of her way. And she'd yell at the drivers as if it was their fault she nearly died.

One day, there was a car that couldn't/didn't swerve. The photog and I arrive at the accident scene. The body, located just a few feet from the car, is already covered. Some 75 feet past the body, something else is covered. I ask the officer what's covered over there.

"The victim's leg," he said.

 

At 17, I was summoned downtown by the town cops, because I shot some sports photos for the weekly paper and there was no other photog available. A 5-year-old kid I knew in passing had tried to hitch a ride on the train that goes through the middle of town, and was pulled under the wheels.

I lost quite a bit of my innocence that day, shooting pieces of body over a two-block stretch.

 

Not as gruesome, but one summer vacation in college, was working for the Ohio Dept of Transportation, painting buildings. Bunch of us college kids, two or three full-timers. I'm in one van with full-timers, and a car from oncoming traffic hydroplanes and goes head-on into the ODOT van in front of us filled with college kids like me. Our people are fine, but we realize the other car is sitting on its roof, overturned in a water-filled ditch. Held the car up out of water with two other guys and a wedged-in ladder (just to keep the vic's head out of water) until EMTs showed. They pulled the guy out of the car with a neck brace on, but even with that his neck was bending like no neck should. Yep. Broken neck. Guy turned out to be a youth pastor at a church, and I got a note from his wife thanking me for trying. Took a while to get that out of my head. .

 

Jesus, Chef, good luck dealing with that. I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

 

I covered an 18-wheeler, car wreck one time. 18-wheeler slammed into the back of a vehicle that was stopped for road construction. When they unfolded the back seat, an elderly couple was under it.
as bad a scene as I've ever been around.
Walking up, I was told there were four people in the car, but I only saw the two in the front seat. I wasn't prepared for the couple in the back seat.

 

What Songbird said ... we're here if you need to vent further.

And thanks for the reminder that though many of our individual situations suck, it can always be worse. It takes crap like this to remember that - at least for me entirely too often.

 

Sorry to hear that, Chef.

My grandfather was a volunteer firefighter and witnessed the ugly side of death more than most. Then again, seeing such an accident once is more than enough.

 

Good luck with dealing with all that. Those of us who have done news in our careers learn to hate these kinds of stories really quick.

 

Hang in there. My heart goes out to all involved.

 

For all the pissing contests between sports and news department, I really respect those on the news side who deal with things like this... makes me even more thankful that "I get to go to the games" instead of scenes like this.

Stay strong, Chef.

 

Chef, good luck.